The Pursuer appeared inside the tunnel and grabbed for him, but Kaladin bent—dodging the grip—and infused the floor with a Full Lashing. Then he leaped forward around the Pursuer, leaving his shoes stuck to the stone. The Pursuer couldn’t help but land on that floor, trapping him in place.
Kaladin held out his scalpel, barefoot as he backed up into the rubble of the broken wall that had been opened. The Pursuer eyed him, remaining rooted on the ground. Then he grinned and left his body, shooting toward Kaladin.
Kaladin retreated through the opening into the outer corridor, infusing the floor again, using up a large amount of his Stormlight. He was able to roll away from the Pursuer’s next attack, which again left the creature rooted. But Kaladin couldn’t step forward and reclaim the Light he’d used, not without getting within the Pursuer’s reach.
His Stormlight was almost gone, something the Pursuer had clearly figured out. The creature left his second body, the first already starting to crumble. When Kaladin leaped forward to try to retrieve his Stormlight, the Pursuer darted at him as a ribbon of light—like a snapping eel—and Kaladin retreated.
The two watched one another in the dark corridor. The Pursuer could only form one more body before he’d need to renew his Voidlight, or risk fighting in his fourth body and perhaps being killed. But Kaladin’s Light was low—and he didn’t have a quick way to get more.
Storms. The other Fused—the femalen—had returned to the gemstone and was working on it again.
“We have to destroy it, Kaladin,” Syl whispered.
She was right. He couldn’t defend this place on his own. He’d simply have to hope that the other nodes were better hidden. Though … how could something be better hidden than in the middle of a wall?
Kaladin took a deep breath, then dashed forward to force the Pursuer to materialize. He did so—but only after zipping back into the center of the second pool of Light Kaladin had made. That let the creature materialize standing on the remnants of his second husk, which was stuck to the Light.
The Fused crouched low, hands out and ready to grab Kaladin if he tried to run past. Kaladin was forced to shy back.
I can’t afford to fight him the way he wants, Kaladin thought. If he gets me into his grip, I’ll end up pinned.
When he’d killed the creature before, Kaladin had used the Pursuer’s assumptions against him. This time he wasn’t making the same mistake, but he was still so very confident.
Use that. Let him defeat himself.
Kaladin turned and started running in the opposite direction.
Behind, the Pursuer began laughing. “That’s right, human! Flee! You see it now! Run and be pursued.”
Syl zipped up alongside Kaladin. “What’s the plan?”
“He’s called the Pursuer,” Kaladin said. “He loves the chase. When we were doing what humans shouldn’t do—trying to fight him—he was deliberate and careful. Now we’re fleeing prey. He might get sloppy. But he won’t leave that third body until we’re far enough away that he’s sure we won’t just double back and attack that other Fused. Go warn me when he does.”
“Right.” She darted off to watch.
Kaladin took a few turns in the corridor, then said, “Tower spren, I need you!” A garnet light ahead started flashing quickly as if anxious.
Kaladin jogged to it, and Syl came darting back. “The Pursuer is recharging—but he’s not leaving the fabrial unwatched! He’s getting Voidlight from the other Fused.”
Kaladin nodded as he pressed his hand to the wall. The tower spren spoke in his mind.
SheiskillingmeSheiskillingmeSheiskillingme. Stopitstopit.
“I’m trying,” Kaladin said. He dug out some of his gemstones, then infused his Stormlight into them to preserve what he had left. “I’m not convinced I can beat that monster again. Not without a team on a battlefield. He fights too well one-on-one. So, I need another hidden room. One with only a single exit—and with a door that will open and close fast.”
You’re going to hide? the Sibling said, hysterical. You can’t—
“I won’t abandon you, but you need to do this for me. We don’t have much time. Please.”
“Kaladin!” Syl said. “He’s coming!”
Kaladin cursed, leaving the Sibling and dashing for an intersection in the dark corridors ahead.
“Duck!” Syl said.
Kaladin ducked, narrowly avoiding the Pursuer’s grip as he materialized. As Kaladin darted a different direction, the creature tried again, dropping a husk and shooting ahead of Kaladin.
Trying to play the part of panicked prey, Kaladin turned and ran the other way—though he hated putting his back to the creature like that. He could almost feel him, forming with arms grabbing at Kaladin’s neck.…
As he dashed through the corridor, people who had been watching snapped their doors shut. Behind him, the Pursuer laughed. Yes, he understood this kind of fight. He enjoyed it. “Run!” he shouted. “Run, little human!”
Ahead, garnet light flashed, then began moving down a side hallway. Kaladin scrambled that direction as Syl warned him the Pursuer was coming. The garnet light, fortunately, moved up a wall straight ahead, then flashed, revealing a gemstone hidden in the rock. Kaladin drew in the Light of one of his spheres and infused the gemstone, making the door begin to open. It was faster than previous ones, as he’d asked.
Syl cried, “He’s almost here!”
“As soon as I walk in,” Kaladin whispered to the tower’s spren, “start closing the door. Then lock it.”
He glanced back, and saw the red light rapidly approaching. So, taking a deep breath, Kaladin ducked through the once-hidden doorway. As he’d asked, it immediately began to grind closed. Kaladin turned to face outward, anxious as he pulled free his scalpel. He made it look like he intended to stand and fight.
Go for my back again, like you’ve done before. Please.
The ribbon danced in over his head. Kaladin leaped forward, squeezing through the tight doorway as it closed, right as the Pursuer appeared in the room behind him.
Kaladin fell forward and scrambled across the ground. Behind him, the door thumped closed. He waited, his heart thundering in his chest, as he turned and watched the doorway. Would the Pursuer’s ribbon be small enough to squeeze through? These hidden doors sealed so tightly they were almost impossible to see from the outside, and Syl had physical form as a ribbon. He assumed the same rules applied to the Pursuer.
Syl flitted down beside him, taking the shape of a young woman in a Bridge Four uniform. She colored it a dark blue.
Quiet. Followed by a yell of rage, muffled to near silence by the intervening stone. Kaladin grinned, picking himself up. He thought he heard the Pursuer yell, “Coward!”
He gave the closed door a salute, then turned to jog back the way he had come. Again he had to hiss at people to close their doors and stay out of sight. Where was their sense of self-preservation?
Their eyes were hopeful when they saw him. And in those expressions, he understood why they had to look, regardless of the danger. They thought everyone had been conquered and controlled, but here was a Radiant. Their hopes pressed on him as he finally reached the hidden tunnel. The femalen Fused with the topknot stood in a posture of concentration, her hand pressed against the sapphire.